


it's been waiting for you

by strangesmallbard



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-22
Updated: 2015-09-22
Packaged: 2018-04-22 20:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4849826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangesmallbard/pseuds/strangesmallbard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You decide to put off a kiss until later. You have all day. You have many days, if this happy ending will hold with anything like iron strength."</p><p>Welcome to <i>New York,</i> Swan-Mills Family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it's been waiting for you

**Author's Note:**

> so whoa it's been nearly a year since i've posted any sq on ao3. hello everyone. i'm still ass deep in love with this ship, and i'd say i can't believe it, but that's a lie. anyway here's some tooth aching fluff. and yes the title is from the taylor swift song. i'm so sorry.
> 
> original prompt from korramills on tumblr: things you said when we were the happiest we ever were
> 
> partial credit for this fic goes to cristine (regiinamills) for the idea of the swan-mills family vacationing in nyc.

You slide into the booth after Emma and find yourself nestling into her sweater-clad side. She drapes an arm over your half of the wooden booth, and your ankles knock together. Her foot pauses at the precipice of intertwining with yours. You catch her eyes, and wonder if it’s alright to kiss her with the busy New York City streets carrying on through the window, with the dozens of people eating lunch and your teenaged son sliding into the seat across.

She gives you the gentlest smile, the corners of her eyes creasing. You decide to put off a kiss until later. You have all day. You have many days, if this happy ending will hold with anything like iron strength. (It was that morning, her yellowed hair from sunlight spilled on your pillow and her arm securely around you, that you realized how deeply you could  _breathe._ A terrible, hard day could be coming, but waking up isn’t the harsh reminder it used to be.) 

Henry watches you both with the corner of his mouth quirked up. He drums his fingertips on the table. “You know, when you ‘introduced me’ to mom a few years ago, I thought she was an ex girlfriend or something.”

You barely manage not to laugh, and Emma raises a brow. “Oh  _really,_ kid.”

 _“Really.”_  He points at the two of you. “You guys were making mushy eyes at each other then just like you are now.”

This time you can’t hold it in. “Believe me, Henry the  _last_  kind of eyes I was making at Ms. Swan back then were  _‘mushy.”_

Emma rolls her eyes, but her arm drops down to land around your waist. “Oh now I’m _Ms. Swan_ again, huh.”

You smile and lean your forehead against hers. “I could always make it  _extra_  formal and call you  _Your Highness.”_

Henry rolls his eyes and sticks up a menu. “I swear, you guys are more embarrassing than Gran and Gramps.” 

_“Kid–”_

“Hi! Welcome to Lenny’s. Can I get your order?”

You catch a change in Emma’s face; the subtle drop of the corners in her mouth, her eyes focussed on nothing in particular as her brow slightly furrows. You rub your foot against hers, a reminder, a notion of a hand squeeze. Her eyes refocus on the waitress’s and you all order barbecue bacon cheese, (which you’ve been assured by both, are the best.)

Henry gets antsy after the waitress leaves, (Tess, you read off her nametag), and so you both let him wander next door at the comic shop. As you watch him through the window, you feel the always present ache of worry for your little boy no matter how long he hasn’t been little.

Your turn back your attention to Emma, who’s watching Tess with the same expression as before. “Hey.” You say, reaching up to lightly touch your fingertips to her cheek. “Are you alright?”

Emma shakes her head. “I was friends with one of the waitresses who worked here. She knew Henry and I’s order and everything. I don’t know, I guess it just would have been….nice to see her….” She shrugs and looks back up at you, mouth curved upward. “…introduce my girlfriend.”

“Ugh.” You say. “I never did get used to that particular set of idioms.”

She snorts. “I can’t just introduce you as  _my love_  every time. We’d embarrass Henry so much he wouldn’t talk to us until he graduated  _college.”_

You smile, the word  _love_ thrumming through your veins like the magic it professes to be. “Oh he  _pretends_  to be grossed out, but you know the stories he writes. He’s always been a romantic at heart.”

The expression is back. “Yeah, he has.” She removes her arm from around your waist and takes the hand you have resting on the table, intertwining her fingers with yours. 

You think you know what the expression is. You felt it yourself the first day, seeing the sights Emma and Henry built a life around. You wrapped your arms around yourself in Central Park and remembered how Henry said this place sometimes made him feel so alone. You remember the long, nearly forgotten year of too tight corsets and the aching knowledge that your son will grow up without you, but now– he’s just next door, taller than you and growing chin stubble. You held Emma’s hand in Central Park and thought about all the ghosts in this world and the next, and how some linger on.

You kissed her under an oak tree, and she told you about how Henry threw a snowball at her their first winter before it got too cold to stay outside.

You meet her gaze. “Emma, it’s alright to miss this life.” You swallow. “From what you and Henry have told me, it sounds like it was a very, very good one.” You’re happy it was. Even with the hurt, you’re so happy.

Emma shakes her head and rubs circles into your palm with her thumb. “It was, but I don’t. I….I have  _more_  than I ever thought I….I just wish I’d been given a chance to say goodbye to it, I guess.” She looks at you with those gentle eyes. “Having  _you_  here feels like a proper goodbye and a…proper hello to whatever comes our way next.

You smile. “Whatever it is, we can handle it.” You think of yellow hair splashed onto a pillow, and her arms holding you gently, but firmly. You think of Henry and nights watching superhero movies. “We might not even  _need_  to handle it.” You say softly. You then snort. “Unless it’s another curse.”

“God  _please_ , no more curses. I’m all cursed out.” You laugh, and whatever’s still aching within you from before is soothed by the warmth in her hand.

“No more curses.” You agree, and kiss her on the cheek. She brings her arm back around your waist, and you lean back into her side.

Those ghosts can rest for the day.


End file.
